St. Nikephoros I or Nicephorus I (Greek: Νικηφόρος Α΄, Nikēphoros I ), (c. 758 – April 5, 828) was a Christian Byzantine writer and Patriarch of Constantinople from April 12, 806 to March 13, 815. April 5 is the 95th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (96th in leap years). ... Events Egbert became first King of England Alcamo was founded by the Muslim commander al-Kamuk. ... Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. ... Byzantine Empire at its greatest extent c. ... The Patriarch of Constantinople is the Ecumenical Patriarch, ranking as the first among equals in the Eastern Orthodox communion. ... April 12 is the 102nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (103rd in leap years). ... Events April 12 - Nicephorus elected patriarch of Constantinople, succeeding Tarasius. ... March 13 is the 72nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (73rd in leap years). ... Events An iconoclastic synod is held. ...

He was born in Constantinople as the son of Theodore and Eudokia, of a strictly orthodox family, which had suffered from the earlier iconoclasm. His father Theodore, one of the secretaries of Emperor Constantine V Kopronymos, had been scourged and banished to Nicaea for his zealous support of Iconodules, and the son inherited the religious convictions of the father. Nevertheless he entered the service of the Empire, became cabinet secretary, and under Irene took part in the synod of 787 as imperial commissioner. He then withdrew to one of the cloisters that he had founded on the Propontis, until he was appointed director of the largest home for the destitute in Constantinople in c. 802. Map of Constantinople. ... Illustration of the Beeldenstorm during the Dutch reformation Iconoclasm is the destruction of religious icons and other symbols or monuments, usually for religious or political motives. ... Constantine V Copronymus (The Dung-named) was Byzantine emperor from 741 to 775. ... Iznik (formerly Nicaea) is a city in Anatolia (now part of Turkey) which is known primarily as the site of two major meetings (or Ecumenical councils) in the early history of the Christian church. ... Iconodules (or Iconophile) is someone who supports or is in favour of religious images, or icons, also known as Iconography, and is in opposition to an Iconoclast (someone against Iconography). ... This solidus struck under Irene reports the legend bASILISSH, Basilissa. ... Cloister of Saint Trophimus, in Arles, France A cloister (from latin claustrum) is a part of cathedral, monastic and abbey architecture. ... The Sea of Marmara (Turkish: Marmara denizi, Modern Greek: Μαρμαρα̃ Θάλασσα or Προποντίδα) (also known as the Sea of Marmora or the Marmara Sea) is an inland sea...

After the death of the Patriarch Tarasios, although still a layman, he was chosen patriarch by the wish of the emperor (Easter, April 12, 806). The uncanonical choice met with opposition from the strictly clerical party of the Stoudites, and this opposition intensified into an open break when Nikephoros, in other respects a very rigid moralist, showed himself compliant to the will of the emperor by reinstating the excommunicated priest Joseph. Tarasius (mid-8th century-February 25, 806), also called Saint Tarasius, was Patriarch of Constantinople from 784 until his death in 806. ... In religious organizations, the laity comprises all lay persons collectively. ... Easter, the Sunday of the Resurrection, Pascha, or Resurrection Day, is the most important religious feast of the Christian liturgical year, observed at some point between late March and late April each year (early April to early May in Eastern Christianity). ... April 12 is the 102nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (103rd in leap years). ... Events April 12 - Nicephorus elected patriarch of Constantinople, succeeding Tarasius. ... Excommunication is religious censure which is used to deprive or suspend membership in a religious community. ...

After vain theological disputes, in December 814, there followed personal insults. Nikephoros at first replied to his removal from his office by excommunication, but was at last obliged to yield to force, and was taken to one of the cloisters he had founded, Tou Agathou, and later to that called Tou Hagiou Theodorou. From there he carried on a literary polemic for the cause of the iconodules against the synod of 815; on the occasion of the change of emperors, in 820, he was put forward as a candidate for the patriarchate and at least obtained the promise of toleration. Look up Polemic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Polemic is the art or practice of inciting disputation or causing controversy, for example in religious, philosophical, or political matters. ... Iconodules (or Iconophile) is someone who supports or is in favour of religious images, or icons, also known as Iconography, and is in opposition to an Iconoclast (someone against Iconography). ...

He died at the monastery of Saint Theodore (Hagiou Theodorou), revered as a confessor. His remains were solemnly brought back to Constantinople by the Patriarch Methodios on March 13, 874, and interred in the Church of the Holy Apostles, where they were annually the object of imperial devotion. His feast is celebrated on this day both in the Greek and Roman Churches; the Greeks also observe 2 June as the day of his death. The title confessor is used in the Christian Church in two separate ways. ... March 13 is the 72nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (73rd in leap years). ... Events March 13 - The bones of Saint Nicephorus are interred in the Church of the Apostles, Constantinople. ... The Church of the Holy Apostles (Greek: Aghioi Apostoloi), also known as the Imperial Polyandreion, was a Christian basilica built in Constantinople (then the capital of the Byzantine Empire) in 550 AD. It was second only to the Church of the Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) among the great churches of... June 2 is the 153rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (154th in leap years), with 212 days remaining. ...

Compared with Theodore of Stoudios, Nikephoros appears as a friend of conciliation, learned in patristics, more inclined to take the defensive than the offensive, and possessed of a comparatively chaste, simple style. He was mild in his ecclesiastical and monastical rules and non-partisan in his historical treatment of the period from 610 to 769 (Historia syntomos, breviarium). Theodore the Studite ( ca. ... Patristics is the study of early Christian writers, known as the Church Fathers. ...

His tables of universal history (Chronographikon syntomon), in passages extended and continued, were in great favor with the Byzantines, and were also circulated outside the Empire in the Latin version of Anastasius Bibliothecarius, and also in Slavonic translation. The Chronography offered a universal history from the time of Adam and Eve to his own time. To it he appended a canon catalog (which does not include the Revelation of John). The catalog of the accepted books of the Old and New Testaments is followed by the antilegomena (including Revelation) and the apocrypha. Next to each book is the count of its lines, his stichometry, to which we can compare our accepted texts and judge how much has been added or omitted. This is especially useful for apocrypha for which only fragmentary texts have survived. Anastasius Bibliothecarius, librarian of the Roman Catholic Church, b. ... Michelangelos Creation of Adam, from the Sistine Chapel. ... Revelation is an uncovering or disclosure via communication from the divine of something that has been partially or wholly hidden or unknown. ... Certain books of the New Testament which were for a time not universally received, but which are now considered canonical. ... Apocrypha (from the Greek word απόκρυφα meaning those having been hidden away[1]) are texts of uncertain authenticity or writings where the authorship is questioned. ... The Stichometry of Nicephorus is a stichometry by Patriarch Nicephorus I of Constantinople. ...

The principal works of Nikephorus are three writings referring to iconoclasm: Illustration of the Beeldenstorm during the Dutch reformation Iconoclasm is the destruction of religious icons and other symbols or monuments, usually for religious or political motives. ...

• Apologeticus minor, probably composed before 814, an explanatory work for laymen concerning the tradition and the first phase of the iconoclastic movement;

• Apologeticus major with the three Antirrhetici against Mamonas-Constantine Kopronymos, a complete dogmatics of the belief in images, with an exhaustive discussion and refutation of all objections made in opposing writings, as well as those drawn from the works of the Fathers;

• The third of these larger works is a refutation of the iconoclastic synod of 815 (ed. Serruys, Paris, 1904).

Nikephoros follows in the path of John of Damascus. His merit is the thoroughness with which he traced the literary and traditional proofs, and his detailed refutations are serviceable for the knowledge they afford of important texts adduced by his opponents and in part drawn from the older church literature. The Church Fathers or Fathers of the Church are the early and influential theologians and writers in the Christian Church, particularly those of the first five centuries of Christian history. ... John of Damascus (Latin: Iohannes Damascenus or Johannes Damascenus also known as John Damascene, Chrysorrhoas, streaming with gold—i. ...

References

• The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford University Press, 1991.
• Paul J. Alexander, The Patriarch Nicephorus of Constantinople, Oxford University Press, 1958.

External links

• Development of the Canon of the New Testament: the Stichometry of Nicephorus
• St. Nicephorus (Catholic Encyclopedia)